European Stocks Slip as Fed-Fueled Relief Rally Fades

LONDON (The Deal) -- Markets in Europe and Asia slipped back Friday, as the relief rally following the Federal Reserve's interest rate announcement quickly faded and the Bank of Japan's latest policy move -- buying an additional 300 billion Japanese yen ($2.47 billion) of ETF funds -- disappointed.

In London the FTSE 100 was down 0.31% at 6,083.57, while in Frankfurt the DAX was down 0.27% at 10,709.05. In Paris, the CAC 40 was down 0.35% at 4,661.08.

Zurich Insurance Group (ZURVY) is buying Wells Fargo's (WFC - Get Report) crop insurance business Rural Community Insurance Services for up to $1.05 billion, using up some of the cash left on its books after it pulled out of the takeover of Britain's RSA Insurance Group in September. Zurich was up 0.2% at 251.50 Swiss francs per share. RSA Insurance, however, gained 1.01% to 428.5 pence.

In Paris, Casino Guichard Perrachon was down sharply for the second day running, as investors continued to mull over a strongly worded research note by short seller Muddy Waters Capital and its founder Carson Block, calling it one of the most overvalued and misunderstood companies the firm has ever come across. Casino countered that the "accusatory" note was issued with "the obvious intent to harm Casino, its employees and its shareholders" and that it contained "grossly erroneous allegations." It has also threatened legal action. After seesawing in a range between €40.53 and €3.00 a share, the stock was down 1.49% on Thursday's close at €42.69. Casino's largest shareholder Rallye SA was down 2.73% at €13.18.

In London, pharmaceuticals group GlaxoSmithKline (GSK - Get Report) but then oscillated around Thursday's closing price of 1,341.5 pence on the back of news of two separate deals with Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY - Get Report) to buy a number of HIV research assets from the American company. The deals are through GSK's own HIV business ViiV Healthcare. They are for late-stage HIV R&D assets for up to $835 (including an up-front payment of £317 million), and for a portfolio of preclinical and discovery stage assets for $33 million up-front and milestone payments of up to $587 million.

Commodities stocks caught a break from the weeks of gloom over falling prices and lowered Chinese demand. While markets slipped back, commodities were some of the biggest risers. In London, miner Anglo American (AAUKY) topped the leaderboard, up 2.5% at 270.15 pence a share, while rival BHP Billiton (BHP) was up 0.8% at 705.6 pence. Mexican miner Fresnillo, also a member of London's resources-heavy FTSE 100, was up 0.61% at 658.5 pence.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 closed down 1.9% after an initial rally, at 18,986.80, while the Topix cosed down 1.76% at 1,537.10. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng closed down 0.53% at 21,755.56, but in China the combined Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 index bucked the global trend to finish the day up 0.32% at 3,767.913. Sydney's resources heavy ASX 200 also closed up 0.09% at 5,106.66.